ABC Tops All Nets In Non-Sports C3 Ratings

A different perspective on the TV season so far -- one without prime-time sports programming -- puts ABC on top of all TV broadcast networks when looking at commercial ratings (C3), the metric that still matters to TV advertisers.

In the first four weeks of the 2014-2015 season, ABC shows earned a 2.13 average rating among 18-49 viewers when looking at Nielsen’s C3 ratings -- the average commercial ratings plus three days of time-shifted viewing -- from September 22 through October 19.

For ABC, this result is virtually identical to its C3 18-49 ratings of a year ago -- a 2.14 -- at this point in the season.

NBC is next at a 1.92 rating, down 14% from a year ago when it had a leading 2.23 rating in non-sports prime-time programming.

CBS is in third place with a 1.88 rating, off 10% from a year ago when it was at a 2.08. Fox is in fourth place with a 1.54, sharply down 23% from its 1.99 rating. The CW is in fifth place at a 0.56, slipping 5% from its 0.59 rating of a year ago.

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Both NBC and CBS garner bigger overall prime-time ratings because of their respective highly rated NFL prime-time packages -- NBC with “Sunday Night Football” and CBS with the new “Thursday Night Football."

The results also exclude ABC’s college football programming on Saturday night and early-evening Sunday night NFL games that spill into early prime-time periods from late afternoon starts.

ABC boasts the top broadcast drama in C3 with rookie show “How To Get Away with Murder.” “Murder” is on ABC’s Thursday night --  the highest non-sports C3 18-49 ratings night, averaging a 3.47 rating. Other shows on that night include “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal.”

"Watching TV" photo from Shutterstock.

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